


I Want You To Be Happy

by rinshark



Category: Free!
Genre: Friendship, Friendship That Can Never Be Severed, Future Fic, Hurt, Major Character Injury, Male Friendship, Physical Pain, Promise, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2222823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinshark/pseuds/rinshark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time... The relay of the regionals. Sousuke's shoulder still hasn't gotten better. With Rin in the dark, he has to cope with his pain. However, it is too much to handle... When the relay finally starts, and Sousuke stands on the starting block, anxiously waiting for Aiichirou to finish, his pain gets the best of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Want You To Be Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Please pardon the spelling errors/ grammar errors...
> 
> This is a little thing I whipped up for Rin and Sousuke. Based off of the 9th episode of Free! Eternal Summer. Basically events after. And my take on what should happen.

Sousuke sits on the cold ground, gripping his injured right shoulder. He has been down there for almost 10 minutes. He doesn't know how he is going to cope with it during the relay... It already messed other him during the practice rounds... Worrying Rin, is the last thing he wants to do.

He slowly stands up, still gripping his shoulder. Sousuke thinks how victorious Rin was in his individual event. And how he will go to the finals... That puts a smile on his face. Thinking positive, could help him forget the pain in advance. 

As Sousuke goes down the hallway of where the locker rooms are, he spots Rin standing there. No one else is around. The room is dark except for the sunlight shining though the window just out of the locker room. 

"Oi. Rin? What's wrong?", Sousuke asks, quickly placing his hand at his side, letting go if the reddened shoulder. It isn't visible because it is dark in the room. No light shows his shoulder. Rin turns his saddened face towards Sousuke.

Rin had just confronted Haruka about his little stunt in the freestyle event. He completely stopped in the middle of the race with a lot of scouts watching. Rin felt ashamed of him so he went to ask him in a forceful way. Haruka however, responded in a way Rin had never thought possible.

Harsh words... 'His dreams... What are they? What does he want to do? Is he going to continue swimming? Or will he actually go to a college of high expectations? If he doesn't have a dream, and he swims for his friends, what will he do when they are all gone? Away at universities... Possibly away in a whole other country... What will Haru do?', Rin aimlessly asks himself while looking down.

"Oi!", Sousuke shouts. Rin flinches and looks into Sousuke's worried eyes. 

"Oh... Sorry I was spacing out." Rin shakes his head. "Well! It's about time of the relay right? Let's get going!"

Rin looks up at Sousuke with determination. He pats Sousuke on his bad shoulder pretty hard. Sousuke flinches but Rin doesn't notice. The two walk off into the sunlight and leave the dark depressing locker room behind. 

________________

As Sousuke and Rin finally reach Momotaro and Aiichirou, Rin has a huge smirk on his face. Momotaro spots the two and quickly jumps up and down. Aiichirou chuckles. "Rin-sempai! Rin-sempai!!! It's almost time!! We are going to come out victorious again!", Momotaro screeches. Rin chuckles as he stretches his goggles at the back of his head and snaps them against his hair with a furious sound.

"Yeah! We are going to strive for the finals! No matter what happens, we will still remain a team. For Samezuka. For the team!", Rin yells.

The 3 other members smile and nod. Rin then goes up to Aiichirou and messes up his hair. "Ai. You ready? You have improved a lot and proved yourself you deserve to be here! And for being here, I thank you. Try your best out there. Kay?" Aiichirou blushes.

"Ye- Yes! I will try my best!" Rin smiles and then turns to Sousuke who actually looks a little nervous. 'What if I mess this whole thing up...? What if I let Rin down?'

"Are you really okay Sousuke? You look down.", Rin comments snapping Sousuke out of his thought. Sousuke smiles and shakes his head.

"No. I'm fine. I was just organizing my thoughts a little.", Sousuke replies. It wasn't entirely a lie. But truly, he wasn't fine. His shoulder is killing him as he hangs his goggles over his right shoulder.  
Rin doesn't look so convince but he snickers and laughs.

"Alright! Let's win against Iwatobi!", Rin shouts. 

"Yeah!!!", Momotaro, Aiichirou and Sousuke shout along with him. The 4 swimmers walk along towards the opening to where the starting blocks are.  
______________

Sousuke's head is starting to hurt now... All the yelling and talking is getting on his nerves. He stands behind Aiichirou and Rin is talking to Haruka who is in the next lane down. Someone comes and talks to Aiichirou. Blonde hair and big pink eyes.

"Ai-chan! Let's both do out best today!!! However, I won't go easy on you!", the boy screams. Aiichirou flinches back.

" Um.. Hazuki-kun... I won't even notice really...", Aiichirou replies nervously.

A tall boy with light brown hair and emerald eyes steps up to Momotaro. He smiles and sticks out his hand. "No matter what happens, it will still be a good race." Momotaro smiles and takes his big hand.

"Thank you!", Momotaro says wit a determined look. Maybe he shouldn't have said thank you to something to that...

Now, a normal sized boy with blue hair and purple eyes comes up to Sousuke. Sousuke's glare almost makes him back up. But he stands tall and bows. "We should try our best in this race!", he says with a half red face. Sousuke smiles and nods. He suddenly feels good about those Iwatobi kids. Except Haruka...

Finally, when the first whistle blows, Momotaro jumps into the water, and props himself up onto the starting block by grabbing 2 steel bars. "On your marks!" The whole stadium goes silent. Until the words come... "Go!" And their off.

Momotaro and Tachibana Makoto are practically only facing each other. They quickly leave the others behind by a few meters. Makoto is slightly ahead of Momotaro just like before. The last leg comes and that is when you can really hear Samezuka screaming. "Swim! Swim! Swim! Swim! Swim!", rings in Sousuke ears. 

Momotaro hits the end and Aiichirou forcefully jumps in, seconds later after Hazuki Nagisa jumped in. Aiichirou improved significantly after Sousuke started to coach him. Sousuke really didn't want him to overwork himself. If he did, Aiichirou would have gotten hurt or sick...

Aiichirou and Nagisa are surprisingly neck and neck. However, when they hit the turn, Sousuke gets up on the starting block and bends down, his shoulder stings in pain already. He can't imagine what pain he might be in when he hits the water. His heart starts to beat faster and faster as Aiichirou gets closer and closer... Finally, when Aiichirou hits seconds before Nagisa, he jumps.

Sousuke's POV

When I hit the water, my headache gets worse... With every thrust forward, my shoulder screams in pain. The boy next to me, is slowly catching up to me. I have no choice but to speed up. As I kick my legs harder and dive forward with more strength, my shoulder slowly becomes even more painful. 

The final turn... Was the last of it... I can't go on... I can't keep this hidden anymore... My shoulder, feels as if it will pop any second. My arms become tired and I get dizzy... Maybe I made the same mistake from back then... Over working myself... I was warned, but I paid no attention to it. I told Aiichirou not to over work, yet I did! I made a mistake... Even after I sustained my injury, I still didn't care...

My pace slows down... I can see that kid getting ahead of me. Slowly, my vision becomes blurry and my breathing becomes rapid. I'm so tired... But... I have to keep moving... Rin's sake...

Rin's POV

When I see that Rei is getting ahead o Sousuke, I know something is up. He never swam like this before. But when he reaches last place and Haruka hits the pool along with most of the others, I know there is something wrong with Sousuke... I hit the water, and quickly to catch up with Haruka. Sadly, by the time I got in, it was already too late. Haruka is already turning...

When I turn, I don't even look. I know something is definitely wrong now. The stadium is quiet and murmurs fill the air. There is water plugged in my ears a little so I can't hear it clearly... When I reach the end, I realize what is wrong...

I look up and I slowly exit the pool, looking at the rankings.

1st: Iwatobi  
5th: Samezuka

But I see next, kills me... Sousuke and paramedics. Sousuke screaming in pain. Grasping his right shoulder like it was in pain. Momo and Ai look scared and so does every one from Iwatobi. Except Haruka though... I stand there motionless as I watch him... I never saw him like this before... What happened to him  
_____________  
Sousuke is lead out of the area with paramedics ready to go to a hospital. The area was silent. Rin can remember Gou running off somewhere. Rin is too late to go with Sousuke. Decides to ask Haruka a question. It bugged him...

He goes to the locker room once again to confront Haruka. Apparently, Makoto and Haruka are there. He wanted to only talk to Haruka but Makoto is fine too... When he enters, Rin slowly walks to Haruka. The two are fully dressed but they don't look happy even though they won.

Rin walks up behind Haru. "Haru... I feel like you know something...", Rin immediately says. He needs to ask a bunch of questions but this one is crucial. "What do you know about Sousuke?" Haruka slams his locker shut and he glares at Rin.

"He has a shoulder injury.", Haruka plainly says. Makoto flinches as well as Rin. 

"What are you talking about?", Rin asks. Makoto looks down to the floor.

"He has already had this injury. He was suffering from this for weeks on end. But-"

"What wouldn't he tell me?!!?"

"... He didn't tell me that himself. But you should ask him... But, I feel like he didn't want you to worry about him."

Sousuke's POV

At the hospital, I had stopped yelling and moaning but my shoulder still hurts... Nothing can really help it by painkillers the doctor gave me. I sit in the room waiting for the doctor to come back with my results. I only told him to tell me my future... Basically, I will be able to swim again, or I won't... 

The door opens and the doctor about 30 years of age enters the room. He has a sad look on his face. I look out the window, avoiding eye contact with him. I have to take this easily...

"Well... I said before when you came here, you should have rested and stopped swimming... But, the message didn't get to you and you continued to swim. Understand this, you shouldn't swim with a shoulder injury. That is a huge no. But since you did, you can't have good results..."

My heart pounds out of my chest as I prepare for the worst... 

"You, can't swim, anymore... With a shoulder that bad, you can't risk your own body for something like that. If you keep swimming, your shoulder will get to the point of never healing. However, if you rest and put on a cast, you may be able to recover slowly. Noe I understand you took up a big college to keep swimming... But I'm sorry, you have to wait at least a year to actually consider swimming again."

No words are spoken. My mind is too clouded with regret. If I rested, I would be going to the same university as Rin, and possibility spend my college life with him... But now... I can't do that....  
___________

Sousuke walks put of the hospital room and sits in the lobby. He sits in front of a large glass window showing the sunset through trees. He has to wait for his cast... He sighs and turns his back towards it. What will become of him now?

When Rin enters the hospital, he spots Sousuke down a hallway. He is sitting and looking down while gripping his right shoulder. Rin bolts and appears in front of Sousuke. Sousuke pays him no mind and looks away with pain.

"Oi!! Why?! Why would you keep your pain a secret?!" Silence. "Hey! Answer me!" Silence. Rin gets impatient. "Tell me now Sousuke! Why would you keep this a secret?! Do you care about my feelings at all?!"

Sousuke rages. "Of course I do!!! What would be the logical reason of keeping it a secret if it wasn't for your feelings!!! I didn't tell you because I care about you! I didn't want you to worry about me! And have you become depressed like you did after you beat Nanase!! I don't want you to worry about me because I want you to be happy! Is that too much for you?!"

Rin is speechless... Of course he should have told him... But he thinks how much of a worrywart he is. He thinks about how regretful he felt when he told Haruka he wasn't going to swim with him ever again.... How much trouble he went through trying to get better after his father died. How much he tried to get better after returning from Australia. How he wanted to beat Haruka so badly because of back then... Power hungry... No matter how he puts it, Sousuke is right... Now, he might have spit their relationship spin two...

"Rin... I didn't want to yell but... That promise we made back then... I finally have what I want.", Sousuke mutters. Rin looks at Sousuke but looks down...

"I want you to be happy...", Sousuke says with a smile. Rin glances up with a surprised look. " I want you to be happy Rin. We have know each other for so long. All I want is for you to be happy and that is it. That's my wish from you. Go fulfill your own dreams. Be happy..."

Rin's eyes fill with tears instantly as he processes the information in his head. He wants Rin to be happy... Be happy... Be happy... A impossible dream for anyone. Everyone is hopeless at one point in their lives... But, Sousuke's words, struck him. 

Rin falls to his knees and lowers his head down. Then he looks up at Sousuke and nods wiping his tears away. "Sousuke... I promise I will remain happy. I will grant that wish for you and for everyone else. I will follow my dreams and gain hope along the way. Thank you Sousuke... I finally understand now... Why you kept it from me... I respect you for that... Now, I hope you the best... And the best for everyone else..." Rin holds out his clenched fist. Sousuke laughs and does a fist bump. 

Not understanding your friends feelings... Could impact the future with them... Pressuring them... Can make you lose their trust... Some bonds with those friends, can be understood with no one else.

Haruka and Makoto

Nagisa and Rei

Rin and Sousuke

Bonds that won't ever be torn apart....

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
